Lubricator.



R. S. CAMPBELL.

LUBRIGATOR. APPLIOATION FILED MAY 13, 190B. RENEWED JULY 16,1913.

7 Patented Aug. 19, 1913.

Fig. 2.

Witnesses, 5 Q. J KM A A?) 60 6/11 0 m'w Attorney.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITE STATES. PATENT OFFISE.

ROBERT S. CAMPBELL, OF STRAW PLAINS, TENNESSEE.

LUBRICA'IOR.

{application filed May 13, 1908, Serial No. 432,627. Renewed July 16, 1913.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT S. CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Straw Plains, in the county of Jefferson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lubricators, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates particularly to lubri cators for rock drills operated by steam power; but the improvement is appllcable also to lubricators for other machines.

The object of the improvement is to provide a lubricator which shall deliver oil in; even quantities and be durable upon machines undergoing severe vibration or jarring. Rock drills and similar instruments 0 eratin b violent im act ut severe strains upon lubricators, tending to destroy the lubricators and to make the feed uneven and unreliable, wastefully large quantities of oil being fed out or insufficient quantities being fed out and the machinery consequently injured for want of oil.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an upright section of a lubricator em bodying my improvement; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same lubricator, the upper screw-plug having been removed; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 looking downward; Fig. 4 is a section on the same line looking upward.

Referring to said drawings, A is the cup or cup-shape body of the lubricator. At its lower end is a screw-threaded neck, 1, means of which the lubricator is attached to a steam rock drill, said neck being screwed into a screw-threaded aperture in the steam supply pipe adjacent the cylinder, as is now and has heretofore been the practice and therefore so well understood as not to require illustration. A screw-threaded aperture, 2, extends upward centrally through said neck, 1, and the base of said cup. A tubular column, 3, which is screw-threaded at its lower end, is fitted into said aperture, it being preferably turned downward until the portion which is not screw-threaded binds against the portion of the cup adjacent said aperture, whereby the screwthreads are bound or jammed, in order to impart greater stability to said column for adequate resistance to the violent vibration and jarring resulting from the impact of the drill rod upon the rock. An aperture, 4, is bored transversely through the neck, 1,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 19,1913.

Serial No. 779,398.

and into the column, 3, and a key, 5, is fitted into said aperture to prevent the turning of said column.

In the upper end of the column, 3, is a bowl-form or approximately half-spherical cavity, 6. In said cavity rests a valve ball, 7. The upper end of the perimeter of the column, 3, is provided with exterior screw threads, 8, extending outward farther than the remainder of the perimeter of the column, and a cap, 9, is interiorly screwthreaded and fitted around the upper end of said column so as to be adapted to be screwed up and down thereon and make more or less space for the ball, 7, between the roof of said cap and the bottom of said cavity, 6, so that the ball may rise from its seat at the bottom of said cavity, as shown in Fig. 1. The lower annular face, 10, of said cap is made irregular, corrugated, or undulated. Beneath said cap, the column, 3, is loosely surrounded by an annular washer or plate, 11, which has its upper face irregular, corrugated, or undulated, and said washer has a tongue, 12, loosely extending into an upright groove or channel, 13, in the column, 3, to prevent said washer or plate from tur ing on said column. Below said washer, 11, an expanding coiled spring, 1 1, surrounds the column, 3, and bears by its upper end against said washer and by its lower end against the base wall of the cup, A, whereby said washer is constantly pressed upward against the annular face, 10, of the cap, 9, for the making of a frictional engagement between said washer and said cap to restrain the rotation of the latter. By practice I have repeatedly found that it is difficult to maintain this cap in position without the use of such a yielding frictional resisting member. I have found that, without such means for resisting the rotation of said cap, the cap will move downward more and more until it and the ball, 7 are bound tightly to the end of the column. This, it will be seen, is due to the impact of the drill tool endwise against the rock, the action upon said cap being the same in nature as the action upon an ordinary hammer or ax when the handle is butted endwise against some relatively stationary object. Such action upon said cap is overcome by the resistance to rotation offered by said washer. Said washer is a yielding member resisting the rotation of said cap. Said cap has an aperture, 15, for the admission of oil from the interior of the cup downward through the tubular col umn and for the passage of steam from the tubular column upward into the cup. At the base of the cup is a screw-plug, 16, which may be removed for draining the cup. A lid, 1'7, is screw-threaded upon the upper end of the cup; and in the center of said lid is a screw-plug, 18. For the insertion of oil, said screw-plug, 18, may be removed. It is shown removed in Fig. 2. For the adjustment or removal of the cap, 9, and other parts 'ithin the cup, the lid, 17, may be removed. To facilitate the turning of said lid, it is provided with a hexagonal portion, 19; and the cap, 9, is made hexagonal to adapt it to be engaged by a socket. wrench.

The cavity, 6, is preferably made larger than the lower half of the ball, in order that there may be room for the sidewise movement of the ball in response to lateral jarring or vibration of the lubricator when the drill is set out of the upright position.

In operation, the cap, 9, is so set as to leave room for the ball, 7, to rise a little in the cavity, 6. The extent of such space must be determined by trial. It must vary with the variation in the fluidity of the lubricantor with variation in temperature and pressure of the steam and with the intensity of the action of the drill. As above indicated, the cap will remain in any position into which it is turned, rotation due to jarring of the machine or longitudinal impulses being neutralized and overcome by the washer, 11. The lubricant, which is usually some form of oil, is poured into the cup until the latter is filled. hen the machine is put into action, the vibration or jarring unseats the ball, 7, repeatedly and to only a small extent (usually less than shown in Fig. 1), and each time it is so unseated, a small quantity of oil passes downward through the column, 3. And steam may press up ward through the column, 3, around the ball and through the aperture, 15, into the cup. During the beginning of the operation,

while the lubricant and the lubricator and the pipes leading thereto are relatively cold, the steam will condense, and the water of condensation will settle by gravity to the bottom of the cup. More and more water of condensation will thus occupy the lower portion of the cup and lift the oil. But the condensation of the steam and the consequent forming of said mass of water will gradually diminish with the increase of heat in the apparatus, so that by.the time the level of the water approaches the top of the column or the cap, 9, the further rising of such water approximately or substantially ceases. When the level of the oil has become as low as the aperture, 15, more oil must be poured into the cup, the water of condensation, if it has reached as high or approximately as high as the top of the column, being first withdrawn by the removal of the screw-plug, 16.

I claim as my invention:

In a lubricat-or, the combination of a cup, a tubular column within said cup extending nearly to the top of said cup, a cap having a normally open aperture and being screwthreaded to the upper end of said column, a movable valve member loosely held between said column and said cap, whereby the mo vement of the valve and the feed of the lubricant is regulated, a member bearing against said cap to resist rotation, said member and said cap having their co-acting surfaces roughened and said member having no rotation with respect to said column, and a spring located around said column and coacting with the said member, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name, in presence of two Witnesses, this 11th day of May, in the year one thousand nine hundred and eight.

ROBERT S. CAMPBELL.

Witnesses:

W. E. GRINnsrArr, J. F. GnINosTArr.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

